Wall Street Zen Upgrades BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) to "Buy"

Key Points

• BJ's Restaurants has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, signaling increased investor confidence.
• Barclays set a new price target of $37.00, while Benchmark upgraded their target to $44.00, indicating varying perceptions of the stock's potential among analysts.
• The company reported $0.97 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and reflecting a 4.5% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Benchmark upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.67.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

BJ's Restaurants stock traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.03. 440,095 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 690,808. BJ's Restaurants has a one year low of $27.89 and a one year high of $47.02. The stock has a market cap of $775.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.04.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.28. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The business had revenue of $365.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. BJ's Restaurants's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ's Restaurants

In related news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $145,541.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at $252,611.84. The trade was a 36.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total transaction of $338,090.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,044.53. The trade was a 71.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the first quarter worth $69,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 18.0% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,189 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 77.5% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,317 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the second quarter worth $120,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the first quarter worth $97,000. 99.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About BJ's Restaurants

BJ's Restaurants, Inc owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. Its restaurants offer pizzas, craft and other beers, appetizers, entrées, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads, and desserts under brand name Pizookie. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.